Nancy Drew

Cover illustration, 1930

When I was in my early teens I read all of the Nancy Drew books; the first in the series was "The Secret of the Old Clock," written in 1930, and revised several times before I first saw it in the 1960's. The heroine Nancy at age 16 was a marvel of ingenuity and courage. How I would love to have a copy of one of those old books now.

Recently I came upon this poem; I have since vowed to get myself a copy of Nancy Drew, any of the books from between 1930 and 1960 will do.

In the meantime I will just enjoy the poem.

Nancy Drew
by Ron Koertge

Merely pretty, she made up for it with vim.
And she got to say things like, "But gosh,
what if these plans should fall into the wrong
hands?" And it was pretty clear she didn't mean
plans for a party or a trip to the museum, but
something involving espionage or a Nazi or two.
In fact, the handsome exchange student turns
out to be a Fascist sympathizer. When he snatches
Nancy along with some blueprints, she knows he
has something more sinister in mind than kissing
with his mouth open.
Locked in the pantry of an abandoned farm house,
Nancy makes a radio out of a shoelace and a muffin.
Pretty soon the police show up, and everything's
hunky dory.
Nancy accepts their thanks, but she's subdued.
It's not like her to fall for a cad. Even as she plans
a short vacation to sort out her emotions she knows
there will be a suspicious waiter, a woman in a green
off the shoulder dress, and her very jittery husband.
Very well. But no more handsome boys like the last one:
the part in his hair that was sheer propulsion, that way
he had of lifting his eyes to hers over custard,
those feelings that made her not want to be brave
confident and daring, polite, sensitive and caring.

Cover illustration, 1959